The April 2006 article titled,
“Is Your Organization Linguistically
Competent? Providing effective interpreter
services” features an interview
with Stefanie Trice, Senior Associate
Director of the Office of Cultural
and Linguistic Diversity Development
for the Queens Health Network (QHN).
Culturesmart was selected as a vendor
by QHN in 2004 for the training
of 120 bilingual staff and volunteers
of QHN, using the Culturesmart 40-Hour
Multilingual Medical Interpreter
Training Program.

Culturesmart was selected as a
vendor among several others because
it offered a rigorous training course
which was not only effective at
building interpreting skills but
also utilized screening tools to
determine participants’ linguistic
abilities and interpreting skills
before and after training process,
respectively. Referring to this
training project conducted by Culturesmart,
Trice mentions, “We …
have 60 dual-role staff that provide
Bengali, Haitian Creole, Hindi,
Korean, Mandarin-Chinese, Spanish
or Urdu interpreting services in
addition to their usual duties,
along with a committed corps of
skilled volunteer interpreters that
have long served Elmhurst Hospital
and who also went through this quality
improvement process.”

Trice’s confidence in the
Culturesmart model was reflected
in her comments about recommended
models for training interpreters:
“If, like QHN, an organization
chooses to offer such training to
staff, Trice recommends the following
requirements:

Training should be a minimum
of 40 hours.

Bilingual fluency should be
a prerequisite for training. Language
skills should be tested before
an individual begins training.

Interpreting skills and accuracy
should be taught and tested with
the assistance of skilled language-specific
interpreters (or language coaches).

Students’ knowledge and
accuracy of interpreting should
be tested after training through
written exams (on ethics and vocabulary)
and oral demonstration of interpreting
skills.

Certificates should be issued
to those who have successfully
demonstrated the ability to interpret
accurately and in compliance with
ethical guidelines.”

Culturesmart’s Medical Interpreter
Training Program is offered to bilingual
staff at health care practices throughout
the country and to qualified individuals
who are interested in becoming medical
interpreters. Its design and skill-building
curriculum have been developed specifically
to address the needs of healthcare
organizations and their staff.